Some people find no enjoyment in the kitchen, get discouraged from failed attempts, or prefer to dine at one of the many great restaurants in Tampa Bay instead.
Some, however, have the inkling to learn—but they might not know where to start. So how does a food enthusiast in Tampa Bay learn how to cook?
Initial instincts often lead to online recipes (God forbid, AI-generated ones), Tik Tok tutorials, Instagram reels or perhaps a quick YouTube video. While these resources are free and accessible, there are countless local chefs taking the time out of their busy days to spread knowledge through cooking demonstrations, educational workshops and hands-on experiences.
Whether you’re someone who thinks they have no cooking skills at all, a home cook with an arsenal of family recipes, or a self-proclaimed foodie that wants to rub shoulders with their favorite chefs and restaurateurs, in-person classes local to Tampa Bay are an invaluable culinary resource.
While national platforms like Sur La Table and Classpop are some of the easiest ways to find a local cooking class often taught by private chefs or full-time instructors, the Tampa Bay area is home to small business owners and chefs breaking away from the daily minutiae of the restaurant industry to spend one-on-one time with customers.
Chef Rene Valenzuela of Rene’s Mexican Kitchen—who’s been teaching cooking classes in Tampa for the past 25 years—has a vocation-like dedication to spreading the culinary knowledge and history of Mexican fare.
When the native of Monterrey, Mexico not running his several food trucks or taco spot in V.M. Ybor, he teaches classes or hosts ticketed dinners at different venues in Tampa, including Southern Brewing in Seminole Heights.
He says these ticketed demonstrations are much different than his typical, day-to-day restaurant work because it requires a separate skill set.
“You have to be cooking, explaining, entertaining, and answering questions while still preparing several courses for the guests,” Valenzuela, 54, tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “Of course, sitting down and sharing a meal at the end is also very important, too. Eating is part of the education because you need to know what the end product is supposed to taste like.”
Valenzuela grew up in a family of teachers, so these classes are integral to his approach to cooking as a whole. And when the veteran chef eventually retires from the hustle and bustle of the industry, he sees himself continuing to teach others how to prepare traditional Mexican dishes.
“When I first started teaching classes I tended to focus on more elaborate recipes that were harder to execute. But eventually I learned that people want to learn something that’s more practical in their everyday lives,” Valenzuela says. “And then some people just want to eat and that’s OK, too—not everyone wants to cook like a professional chef.”
“But I still love teaching about the history, ingredients, techniques and traditions of Mexico…that’s very important to me,” he adds.
Not only can cooking classes be a fun activity with friends, family, or even strangers, but they can also be a straightforward way of learning how to craft restaurant-quality meals at home.
Fans of Pasta Packs’ famed weekend lunches in South Tampa—where Chef Nic Byron prepares classic dishes like pappardelle bolognese and seasonal items like bacon cappelletti—can now learn a variety of techniques from the pasta professional himself.
Pasta Packs’ classes—like the wild fermentation workshops of St. Pete Ferments—require a literal hands-on approach, while others offer a more laid back, demonstration-like structure.
For Streetlight Taco’s Chef-Partner Michael Brannock, the idea of teaching educational classes has always been a vital part of his restaurant’s business model. At his monthly classes, folks learn about the lifeblood of the modern Mexican restaurant—heirloom masa (corn dough) that’s nixtamalized and milled in-house on a daily basis.
“I’ve always loved teaching and training has been a huge part of my career. With everything that’s been shared with me in my life, I always want to help pass that on to others,” Brannock says. “Every time I’ve been to Mexico, if there’s something I wanted to learn, whatever it was, total strangers have been happy to show me. I hope to provide a little bit of here within a business environment.”
His masa classes happen about once a month at Streetlight Taco, and a $75 ticket includes an hour-ish class, some fresh masa, a tortilla press, lunch plus a “surprise bite,” a drink and a $10 gift card. He says that each time he teaches a class, at least a third of attendees have never been to the restaurant before, which is quite surprising to him.
And while Streetlight Taco’s masa class is more of a casual, educational lunch, Sarah Arrazola of St. Pete Ferments requires her students to get their hands a little dirtier.
Over the years, the 35 year-old has taught over 1,000 students (who she calls “The Fermanators”) how to create their own ferments at home, which are chock full of beneficial bacteria and locally-sourced ingredients. She describes these workshops—which are priced at a sliding scale—as “the heart and soul of St. Pete Ferments.”
Some people may wonder why she “shares her secrets” instead of encouraging folks to purchase her own products, but she just doesn’t believe in the notion of gatekeeping any of these techniques with her community.
“While online resources can be a wonderful tool for people, I feel like a lot of food content creators are really curating things towards their audiences,” Arrazola says. “But when you’re surrounded by people at the workshops, it’s like we’re in our own little world. We’re not worried about making content, we’re genuinely here to learn—and doing so from other people in your community is important.”
Learning about this culinary and scientific practice in a local sense is especially beneficial because The Sunshine State’s climate makes it a unique place to practice fermentation. “Florida can sometimes feel left out of a lot of fermentation conversations in the U.S…the rules change a little bit down here,” she adds.
Tampa high schools including Jefferson High School, Erwin Technical College, Chamberlain High School, and Bloomingdale Senior High School among several others all boast their own culinary programs. There’s even middle schools throughout Tampa Bay that offer culinary arts as a part of their curriculum, as well as college-level courses at Hillsborough Community College and Pinellas Technical College.
Tampa chef Guillermo Quezada has spent many years working in professional kitchens throughout Tampa and beyond, but is about to shift into the world of culinary education.
He’ll soon become a culinary instructor at his alma mater Leto High School alongside Debra Hladky—his first mentor who taught him over a decade ago when he was a budding,14 year-old wanna-be chef.
It’s a full circle moment for Quezada, who had been torn between the passion of the restaurant industry and its infamous lack of work-life balance. As a culinary instructor, he’ll receive the stability of a 9-to-5 job while still being able to scratch that creative itch at pop-ups and one-off events under the Better Together moniker.
“I think it’s so invaluable to be in an environment with other people that are wanting to learn just as much as you do. You can’t really get that sense of community from a YouTube video or a recipe,” Quezada, 29, tells CL. “Cooking is always going to be something that you’re going to get better at over time. The making of a great chef is somebody that is continuously able to learn, adapt and change.”
While many cooking classes local to Tampa Bay can be easily booked through national, third party companies like Sur La Table, ClassPop, Cozymeal, CocuSocial and AirbnB, there’s inherent value in the unique educational experiences that can be found in nearby restaurants, small business, local farms, and schools.
While Valenzuela, Arrazola, Brannock and Quezada may not have much in common when it comes to their specific culinary leanings, they all take the time to dedicate themselves to food education in some shape or form.
When asked why more local chefs don’t teach classes or other educational programs, Valenzuela thinks it may be a financial-related decision. Profits in the restaurant industry are already notoriously thin, and the extra costs of these additional events—from overhead to ingredients—may not offset the efforts it takes to organize them.
“I would love to see more chefs be more involved in teaching, in whatever realm that looks like. It’s so invaluable and rewarding to be able to pass down knowledge and help nurture somebody,” Quezada explains.
“I am literally a byproduct of people that stopped for a moment in their lives to invest in someone else.”
“When we ask ourselves the question “How can we impact our communities as chefs?” It’s certainly not from a distance,” he adds.
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This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2025.